The group made their way hastily towards Castle Berg, scarcely allowing Hux a moment to falter. Ellie could hear a wyvern fast approaching, a tiny speck of black against the shimmer of the moon in the sky. She heaved a sigh of relief as she prodded the brigand onward. Paige and Cecily did their part, and they soon found themselves at the gate.

“Oi, lads! It’s me! Open ‘er up, I got a haul here!”

“Hux! Bout damn time you came back! ...What’s all that?”

“Couple o’ new bloods and some wenches for the lot of us! Come on, open ‘er up!”

There was a brief silence, a sense of dread, then the door gave way to a faint flickering light splashed across the pewter brick walls lining the hall of the castle. Inside were a handful of men; many unkempt, most battered and bruised, and one with a patch over his left eye. They sat carelessly around a small fire built from scraps of the burgundy carpet running the length of the hall, what Ellie assumed were histories of Bern and the Hyperion family, and what pieces of timber Shad's family must have been keeping for the colder nights in the mountains.

"Slim pickins, mate?" the man with the eye patch inquired, sizing up both Satsume and Ellie before turning his eye to the ladies. He licked his lips and smirked devilishly, his blackened teeth peering through the small gap between his lips.

"Aye, but these two oughtta fetch a nice price!" Hux replied, shoving Paige and Cecily towards the group. Satsume stepped towards Hux, wincing as he moved, before he caught himself. Ellie shot him a glance as she rested a hand on one of her daggers.

"Hmm..." another brigand stood, approaching the girls and circling them intently. He ran his fingers shakily through Cecily's hair as he looked her up and down. "Pretty lot you are, ain't ya?" He stopped in front of Paige, bending slightly to match her height, standing nose to nose. After an agonizing pause, he retreated two paces and crossed his arms. "Say... you the archer?"

It took everything inside Ellie to ignore the question. The other men around the fire turned to face the newcomers as several figures made their way into the hall from just out of view.

"She's got a bow, mate."

"Yeah, she's go' a bow!"

"Must be 'er!"

Ellie could see several weapons being brandished, her heart racing. Still, she did not move. The man with the eye patch stepped forward, a sickle in hand.

"You been up 'ere before, Red?"

"No chance," Ellie chimed in. Suddenly, all eyes were on her; she paused a moment to collect her thoughts and chose her words carefully. "Caught her fighting with Hux, figured you'd have work for us."

No one moved, no one spoke; Ellie had a hard time even daring to breathe. Satsume straightened himself out in preparation for the worst while Paige and Cecily tensed up.

SKREEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

Hux spun on his heels, fear etched into every wrinkle on his face. Suddenly all arms were drawn as the men frantically doused the flame in the hall. Ellie wasted no time in making her way to the girls in the darkness and all the commotion, cutting them free and pulling them away from the gaggle of testy brigands. Then once more, there was silence. More damn silence, Ellie thought - the tension was almost too much to bear.

"The 'ell?"

"The army here?"

"Nah, couldn' be."

The brigands bickered a few more moments while all their eyes adjusted to the darkness, until decisions were made.

"New blood, yer with me," beckoned one of the silhouettes. He made his way through the crowd and planted one hand on Satsume's shoulder. Brandishing his axe, he stepped towards the door with Satsume mere paces behind. He opened the door slowly, peering out into nothingness; nothing moved, and no one spoke. He pushed the door wider and stepped out into the night. The moonlight found its way into the hall, enough light to see the bandits gathering like children clamoring for sweets. Satsume, however, made no effort to follow the bandit.

"Ain't nothing 'ere!" he shouted, shrugging as he stepped further into the night. He looked to the sky, looked left, then right - nothing. He spun on his heels and chuckled. "Must be a pat-"

With a sickening squeal, the bandit crumpled under the weight of an ebony scaled wyvern. The wyvern arched its neck and growled at the figures in the doorway. Several figures began to fade out of view, opting to find another exit in hopes of flanking the rider, whereas the others stood their ground.

"My name is Leroy Vael, Rider of the Bernese Army! You are to lay down your arms and surrender the castle, or you will be dispatched without mercy!" Leroy shouted, pointing his axe towards the door. His wyvern stepped back and lowered its wings, the bloodied corpse beneath its feet falling limp and twisted as it moved; there it waited.

Just as Paige was trying to figure out why the bandits were so offended by a bow, a wyvern rider broke through the door and demanded that the bandits surrender. She was tempted to step aside and find out where the prisoners were. However, that was not the plan. This was the moment for a surprise attack, but Leroy offered a chance for the bandits to surrender peacefully. She wanted to give them a chance, perhaps the only smart move they could make at this point.

With that said, Paige kept her hands behind her back, despite being cut loose. If this didn't end peacefully, she needed the advantage. She looked over to her sword, currently tied to Satsume's belt. How quickly could she get it back?

Satsume bristled with displeasure as the goons stepped around them and began appraising Cecily and Paige. I’ll repay that in kind, he growled inwardly as one of the brigands ran his hand through Cecily’s hair. She didn’t move, but the look on her face was enough to make even Satsume feel disgust alongside her.

An armor-piercing inquiry from who Satsume assumed was the leader of the bunch was deflected by Eli. Satsume was beckoned to follow one of the bandits as he moved to the door. Satsume followed cautiously behind, dropping the rope that “held” Paige and Cecily. He brandished Paige’s rapier and awkwardly peered around the lead bandit’s shoulder as he peeked out into the night.

“Ain’t nothing ‘ere! Must be a pat-“

*Whomp!* Satsume jumped back in surprise as a wyvern pounded into the ground, pulverizing the bandit while issuing a guttural snarl at everyone in the castle. It took a moment for Satsume to collect himself, but when he realized what was happening, his mind snapped back to their plan.

"My name is Leroy Vael, Rider of the Bernese Army!” cried the wyvern’s rider. “You are to lay down your arms and surrender the castle, or you will be dispatched without mercy!"

Satsume feigned obedience, sheathing the sword and unstrapping the scabbard from his belt. His left hand fell to his side, ready to grab his spear.

“Sod off! This is our castle an’ we found it fair n’ square!” hollered the man with the eyepatch. “At ‘im, boys! I’m gonna pin that wyvern’s wings to the façade!” Weapons were raised once again. Satsume whirled around, putting his back to the wyvern. This would be a bad time to learn that that’s not Eli’s brother, he thought.

“And get them out of here!” bellowed the eyepatched goon, gesturing to Paige and Cecily.

“Paige, heads up!” Satsume yelled, tossing the rapier in his off hand over to her. His left hand took up his weapon and snapped it out to combat length. The recoil buckled him a tiny bit, and his ribs ached in displeasure.

Right – not wearing armor, he remembered. And that healing salve from earlier isn’t meant for internal injuries… He needed to get over to Cecily, and quickly; her song would be crucial to keeping the pain at bay.

Unfortunately, one of the castle goons had stepped between him and the girls. “What do you think you’re doing, punk?!” he shouted. He waved an axe head at him threateningly. Satsume, undaunted, clamped the head of his lance down on the man’s wrist with a quick motion – quicker, he noticed, than would have been possible with heavy gauntlets and shoulder pauldrons. The brigand yelped and dropped his weapon, clasping at the wound.

“We’re evicting you,” Satsume said coolly, before shoving the man to the ground and hopping over him to get to Cecily.

He hoped that, in the din of the unfolding battle, she hadn’t noticed him grimace in pain as he landed.

She wanted to slap the brigand when he took a sniff of her hair. Cecily never imagined that she would witness the rock bottom of society in the front row seat. However, Cecily managed to contort her look of disgust and contempt into one of resignation to her apparent future. She prayed that their mistreatment by these scums would be short lived. Then, as though answered by Elimine herself, the heart stopping screech echoed around the castle: her heart, at least.

Despite having heard those same war cries back in Tania, there was no way that Cecily could bear hearing it. She knew better than to scream, but her knees gave way instead. It was never the sight of a wyvern that intimidated her: Cecily had visited Bern's wyvern stables before, when she was a guest at a Bernese banquet, but she had never heard, or seen, these beasts wage war until very recently.

It was at Ellie's beckoning that Cecily gathered the nerve to scramble out of the way. The scene quickly turned to chaos as the brigands roused their companions at Leroy's brazen appearance. Satsume's approach helped calm her, though she was not one to admit it.

"It seems I was the one holding the rope after all," Cecily said with a smirk, looking up at him while still seated on the smooth stone floor. Cecily could already guess what Satsume wanted from her.

"That wound is going to hurt a lot more later if you use my galdrar," she added. But Cecily would oblige if he insisted, anyways. Despite her mannerisms, she trusts his judgment; he did save her life.

Before she knew it, Lita was effectively alone with Goldhardt again. The two of them were walking through the trees off the path at a pace about the same as the others as they went on. If these people didn't trust them then they were doing a really bad job of it. It didn't matter to her though because they were totally trustworthy.

”You're right. It's a good idea for you to stay quiet even if we aren't near others. If you want your voice back you'll need to earn it.”

The duo kept walking until they reached a good place to spy on the entrance. The other group had gone in but they were to stay hidden until, well, a good time to not be. Thankfully one wasn't too far off. The source of the occasional screech revealed itself as a wyvern landed on one of the bandits that was investigating the noise. Others poured out from the entrance to take on the beast and it's rider.

”Well, I'd say that's as good of a sign as any to make our entrance,” Lita said before jumping onto Goldhardt's shoulders, balancing herself well on her bodyguard's armor. ”And if I'm going to make one as grand as that then I need to be riding something at least as intimidating. Charge!”

A sound something like a sigh came from Goldhardt but they dared not put their displease of this situation into words. Grabbing the axe sheathed his back, he rushed out of the forest towards the unaware Bandits, putting momentum of a charge in full armor into a side swing directed to knock them back towards their group.

While her “steed” did the work of getting her into the fray, Lita balanced perfectly on Goldhardt's shoulders, merely giving a taunting laugh. ”Ohohohohohohohoho~!”

Shad looked back upon his sister one last time. Next time he sees her, he thought, they'd be walking out of this cell together, preferably over the corpses they left behind. "Go back to your singing. I'll be back before you know it." Maria nodded her head and took up where she was sitting before. Shad heard a bit of a humming as Maria tried to get the tune back.

"The air is fresh and it darkles,
And smoothly flows the Rhine;
The peak of the mountain sparkles
In the fading sunset-shine."

Shad didn't know where this song had come to Maria. Perhaps it was taught to her by Maisie or one of the Fens. Perhaps it was something from his past, but it was lost to him. But this tune matched the first verse he heard as he entered, meaning this was the same song. He turned around and closed the door behind him, staring at the door and trying to listen to Maria's song.

"The loveliest wonderful maiden
On high is sitting there,
With golden jewels braiden,
And she combs her golden hair."

As he pulled back from the door, someone grabbed Shad by the back of the head and rammed it face first into the door. He was dazed, he felt his weight falling when it happened again. This time, something caught him by his hair line, something sharp. It hurt like hell and he could already feel the heat gushing out. He caught himself and turned around as the assailant grabbed him by the face and repeated smashed his head against the door. Four times in total.

"Who are you and what are you doing by the bitch's door?"

Shad couldn't respond, so the brigand opened the door and tossed Shad against the wall. He put his left arm out to catch his fall, but in landing he felt something pop. Shad left the torch burning on the floor so Maria wasn't stuck in the dark. The brigand lifted the torch and directed towards Shad's face. He then looked at Maria, who paused in her singing. She resumed.

"It hath caught the boatman, and bound him
In the spell of a wild, sad love;
He sees not the rocks around him,
He sees only her above."

"Quiet you monster," the brigand said, looking back at Shad. "You look like the people in those paintin's. You look like 'er. Your the brat we've been waiting on. Hahaha!" The man laughed, trying to get Shad to acknowledge him. "Since that damn rider showed up, it's only a matter of time before the military comes too. So I'm taking the two of you to Lycia and getting rich. But first..." He pulled Shad back up, grabbing him by his left arm and right shoulder, and rammed him face first into the cell, pressing his face between the bars. "Get over here. Look me in the eyes and tell me this isn't your brother."

Maria halted her song, humming the tune as she approached Shad and the brigand. Shad's bangs were stained with blood, his eye obscured under the blood. It started dripping down around his mouth and started dripping off his chin. Shad only had one eye open and it was looking down. Maria couldn't understand why, until she saw it. An opportunity. She tried her best to hug Shad, or at least appear to.

"Now if you stay quiet, I'll try to get us out of here. Hopefully I'll get a lot of coin out of the two of you."

"The waves through the pass keep swinging,
But boatman or boat is none;"
And this with her mighty singing"

The brigand was confused by her resuming her singing. Then he saw it. Maria was holding a magic tome in her hand and was forming magic sigils in a triangle shape in front of her. That was when Shad took a dagger and stabbed the brigands hand, cutting his left arm in the process. He dropped to the ground by the cell as a larger magic sigil formed in the middle of the triangle. Almost instantly, a pair of small fire balls fired through the cell, erupting into a small tower of fire upon contact with the brigand, roasting him. He fell to the ground, writhing in agony, having narrowly survived the spell.

"The Lorelei hath done."

Shad got back up to hit feet, staggering as he was, and approached the brigand. He removed the spade from his waist and put the edge of it to the brigands neck. Before he begin to plead, Shad propped his foot against the spade and punctured the man's throat, silencing him. Shad then stumbled back towards the cell wall and collapsed against it. "Good shinging-ing there. What is that song about? It makes me...want to fall ashleep."

Maria's eyes widened as she saw the amount of blood gushing out of the back of Shad's head. He must have some damage from what happened. "Its about a woman who causes the boatmen who hear her song to die, because they are too focused on her song to notice the dangerous rocks they sail into. Shad, you can't go to sleep now."

"I guess that makes you the Lorelei, huh?" He chuckled, noticing how he was so distracted with her song, he almost was done in listening to it. "Why not? I haven't shlept in over...in over a day." Shad replied, his eyes feeling heavy. He looked around and tried to focus on a spot on the wall, but the room started to spin while doing so. Shad closed his eyes, but then he just felt everything spinning.

"I haven't slept since this ordeal started. They wouldn't let me."

Shad just stared into space. It was hard for him to register this. "How about food? I can make us shomething."

"I haven't eaten either."

Shad blinked with his unobscured eye and inhaled. "Water?" He attempted to look back at Maria without turning his head, but still couldn't see her.

"Obviously."

He grabbed the side of his head, as a rushing pain consumed it. Of course they gave her something to drink, she would be dead probably without it. "Did they attend to your wounds?"

"No."

"Let you wash?"

"No."

"So you've been barred from eating or shleeping, with unattended to injshuries covered in blood...and shweat and tears for five days now?"

"Yes."

Shad sighed. He climbed back to his feet. "Then, I'll go without." Maria looked at him oddly. "If you've been able to deal wittthh...deal with it for thish long, I'll be able to deal withh...it for a few more hours. Schrew food. Schrew shleep. Schrew fixing my arm, hand,....hand, and foot. And most of all...schrew them. I'll kill every one of them I get my hand on."

"Wait, what?" Maria cut in. "Arm? Hand? Foot? What happened?" Shad removed his Sacaen top, down to just his pants and his boots. A gross bump showed itself on his left shoulder. Maria looked at his hand and saw how swollen it had gotten. She looked at his feet and saw the blood stains. "How'd you do all this to yourself?"

Shad looked back at the brigand behind him. He kicked him with the broken foot and fell back against the wall afterwards. Shad struggled to pull himself back up, only having one functional arm at the moment. He tried to think why he pointed out his hand or foot. This feeling was familiar. But he couldn't place it. "I'll be...be. Yeah.." He said, walking out of the solitary cell, leaving a very concerned Maria with a corpse with a shovel in its neck. The prisoners looked horrified at him, looking much like a shambling corpse come to life. Lowell tried saying something to him, but Shad didn't register it. He had two goals in mind and only one left to carry out. Liberate the castle. It was the only thought that came out from the fog of his mind. He walked out the prison doors to see a wyvern and a large group of people.

"I am Lord Shhaadrach Hyperion! Of Arretshium! Of Eshruria! This ish MY Cashle! You messhed with MY MEN! With MY sishter! And forr that...you will pay in blood!" Shad boastlfully proclaimed through his slurred speech. He then proceeded to fall to his knees and vomit on the ground in front of him. He didn't even know he had anything to come up, but he got back to his unsteady feet and drew the schiavona. A brigand noticed him and approached, figuring him for an easy kill. "Be careful there. I'm recklesh even when I'm in the right shtate of mind."

"No worries."

Shad charged the man, which surprised him with the state he was in. It was a move he did before in Santaruz. He positioned the sword in a stabbing position and treated it like a lance. The man swung his axe, hitting Shad in his left arm, which was currently numb from its own issues, as Shad punctured the mans stomach and speared the man into the ground. The axe was stuck in Shad's arm, so he unceremoniously pulled it out and finished the job, planting the axe in the brigands head. He pushed himself up and surveyed the field, finding himself unable to process the action. He vomited again, next to the body of which he sat upon.

In an instant, the castle became a scene of horror as every brigand made for whatever exit they could find, weapons in hand, all hoping for a piece of Ellie's brother. In the commotion, Satsume made his way to the girls and rearmed Paige, while Paige returned Ellie's bow and quiver before anyone else could notice the group of turncoats preparing for their ambush.

"Take care of yourself, Satsume," Ellie said, offering a glance his way before she faced the girls. With a nod, she drew and knocked an arrow, stepping carefully towards the moonlit plateau. It was chaos as the men scrambled outside, trying to get at Leroy with whatever they could. Ellie watched as the wyvern twisted in the air before barreling towards the ground, veering right just as Leroy planted his battleaxe in the abdomen of a rather unfortunate swordsman. The man shrieked in pain as he crumpled to the floor, writhing in agony all the while.

Diverting her attention from the main attraction, Ellie spotted two archers taking aim at Leroy with the cliff face to their backs. Without a moment's hesitation, Ellie drew her bowstring with every ounce of strength she had, took aim, and let fly. The moment that followed seemed to play in slow motion, as the arrow found its mark in the larger archer's throat, causing him to fumble his arrow and fall to his knees, grasping frantically at the wound. The second archer turned, looking for the source of the threat, and locked eyes with Ellie as he drew his bowstring.

"You li'le!"

Ellie wasted no time in drawing a second arrow and dropping to one knee to let loose another shot, narrowly missing her mark as it grazed the archer's exposed ribs; with a slight flinch, he redrew hard and returned fire. Ellie threw herself to the ground, swearing all the while, as the arrowhead managed to narrowly miss her carotid - she could feel the sudden burn of a fine cut formed in the center of her neck, but she paid it no mind as she spun to her feet, preparing and firing another arrow as she did. This time, the arrow found its mark, protruding through the archer's back as he stumbled back to the cliff wall. Ellie didn't stop to ensure the bandit had fallen, instead turning to make sure her brother was still alive and well - to her contentment, she found that not only was he alive and well, but her new comrades had also joined the fray.

-----------------------------

Leroy wasted no time as the bandits encroached on his position, circling low and swinging wildly at the attacking bandits. As he circled, he noticed one brigand sporting a rather large broadsword, bracing himself to swing for the wyvern's wings. In response, Leroy tugged his mount into a wild spin, barreling towards the man. Gripping his axe hard and digging his heels into the wyvern's sides, they leveled and veered hard to the side, offering Leroy a single moment to plant the head of his axe deep into the abdomen of the swordsman. In the next moment, they took to the sky once more to survey the battlefield.

Leroy took note of the multiple skirmishes taking place below - it seemed he wasn't alone in his efforts, at the very least. He heaved a sigh of relief as his wyvern reared back hard with a high pitched shriek. A single arrow flitted past the wyvern's head, sailing into the night.

"Whoa! Easy boy, easy," he shouted, scanning the plateau for the archers. The very instant he found them, one fell, and the other retaliated against their attacker. Descending carefully, Leroy noticed his ally with the bow; he couldn't make out any distinct features, but the hair colour was uncanny. There's no way...

"Ggggggroooooooowwwwwwrr!"

The wyvern planted its feet, flapping its wings to deter any attackers. Leroy turned right, when he spotted an incoming spear headed directly for his wyvern's chest; he tugged left on the reins, digging in with his right heel, as his wyvern hopped to the left with a slight spin to its right. Leroy swung down with his axe, catching the spear with the haft and forcing it away from his steed. Pulling up and gripping the haft of his axe with both hands, he swung down hard towards his attacker, clipping his arm and crippling his offenses. Leroy looked to his left, then again to the lancer on his right; he was surrounded.

He withdrew his feet from his stirrups, swung his left leg over his wyvern's neck and hopped down to the ground, battleaxe in hand. His wyvern grumbled as it arched its back and pushed hard off the ground, taking to the air once again. Leroy took a defensive stance, his axe leveled before him with one hand near the head, another at the end of the haft, eyeing the attackers as they closed in around him.

"I am Lord Shhaadrach Hyperion! Of Arretshium! Of Eshruria! This ish MY Cashle! You messhed with MY MEN! With MY sishter! And forr that...you will pay in blood!"

Some of the men turned to find the source of the voice, only to find a broken down Shad vomit on the ground. He steadied himself, readying himself for the eventuality of a sword through the gut, and said something that Leroy couldn't quite hear from where he stood. Some of the bandits stepped towards the already wounded Lord, though not enough for Leroy to lower his guard.

As if she told him through her mind, Satsume tossed Paige her old rapier. Though it remained broken in half from their last encounter, it was still long enough to serve as a dagger. Unfortunately, they were in a warzone: hardly the environment for close combat. The librarian longed for the days of duels with rules and structure.

Before Paige could figure out how to proceed, Lita and her giant armored friend busted into the building, taking on several opponents at once. The strength of Goldhardt was only matched by Lita’s exuberant confidence, something Paige would have really liked to have at this moment. Between them and Leroy, much of the bandit force was preoccupied with them. This allowed Paige to sneak between foes and head towards Shad, who seemed to have run out of the luck that carried him through so many battles before. Bandits were beginning to converge on his position.

As soon as Paige was close enough, she rushed in and stabbed one of the bandits in the back. The bandit crashed into the ground with a thud, leaving an opening for Shad to escape. Paige waved her broken rapier at the remaining bandits to keep them back.

“Go!” Paige shouted at Shad, pointing towards Lita and Goldhardt. The safest place was behind that hunk of armor the dancer stood upon. Paige would cover his escape and do the same: she had no interest in fighting all of these foes.

“That wound is going to hurt a lot more later if you use my galdrar,” Cecily said - more matter-of-factly, Satsume decided, rather than out of any measure of concern.

“Just do it,” Satsume replied. He took up a defensive position in front of Cecily and scanned the courtyard.

As her song began, and the invigorating magic began to uplift him, Satsume’s attention was grabbed by a spectacular, if unusual sight – Goldhardt had entered the fray, charging headlong into the fray. The dancer was perched on his shoulders, and she seemed to be enjoying the situation just a little too much.

”Ohohohohohohohoho~!”

Wisely, his allies decided to follow in Goldhardt’s wake. Satsume held his arm out, gesturing Cecily to back towards the open corner of the courtyard. His sword arm threatened at a nearby bandit, trying to keep a workable distance. A few yards ahead, Leroy and his wyvern stood near the entrance, daring the enemy to advance.

Shad’s authoritative(?) shout drew the attention of the bandit Satsume was fending off. As soon as his eyes broke from him, Satsume lunged, scoring a hit just beneath the collarbone.

“Auugghh!” The bandit recoiled, reaching up to grab at the wound. Satsume shuffled forward, threatening with his lance all the while. The bandit waved at his spearpoint with his sword, desperately parrying away strike after strike. Again, Satsume lamented the absence of his heavy armor – else he would have run this poor fool through. Still undaunted, he continued to push back his foe. Again and again, back towards the entrance…

*CHOMP!*

Like a streak of scaly lightning, Leroy’s wyvern lashed out and clamped its fangs into the bandit’s shoulder from behind, tearing its head away and tossing Satsume’s foe to the side like a rag doll. Leroy glanced over. “Well done, boy!” he said, patting his wyvern on the neck as it growled in triumph. Satsume didn’t linger in the moment, instead retreating backward, closer to Cecily. The song was doing a reasonable job of keeping his aches and pains at bay so far. A slight warble in her song brought a tangible pang in his ribs, causing Satsume to whirl around. Another vagrant had managed to get past the Goldhardt freight train, and was advancing on her with his weapon drawn!

“No!” Satsume yelled, digging his boots into the ground and lunging to intercept the bandit’s attack. He got his spearpoint in the way just in time, but his grip was weak – the enemy’s overhand chop was narrowly parried away from Cecily, but at the cost of knocking the lance from Satsume’s hand.

Satsume now had no other recourse. Letting his momentum carry through, he slammed into his foe, crying out in pain as his injuries overtook the adrenaline from Cecily’s song and took both him and the bandit to the ground.

It was as she predicted, though Cecily felt no need to voice her thought. She began her galdr without thinking twice. The tune was simple to help prevent herself from stumbling over the notes, but it probably sounded unfamiliar to those who took the moment to listen. As the battle was waged, Cecily followed behind Satsume within a reasonable distance to maintain the effects of her magic.

She had no moment to spare for distractions like the armored brute who burst onto the scene with the suspicious woman perched upon him. Nor distractions like the brigand who thought to aim his next swing in her direction. The thought made her stutter on her next note as she took steps in the opposite direction and fought the urge to break in terror until Satsume batted the attack away in the nick of time.

However, the ensuing struggle found its way to the ground. Her voice faded as Cecily came to the conclusion that she had to intervene. Having seen where Satsume's lance dropped, she gripped the weapon in both hands and half-walked, half-ran towards the two.

The weapon felt lighter in her hands than she thought, but it still had weight to it. Cecily never carried, let alone use, a polearm in her life. Considering the life or death consequences, she didn't put too much thought in how she was going to attack the vagrant. She just pointed the tip at the man and ran at him. Screaming, of course.

With Shad's stomach finally settled, he heard the sounds of someone approaching from behind. He thought to grab the axe and swing it backwards, but his hand fumbled with the handle of the axe. Before he could secure a grip, Paige came to his rescue, slaying the brigand approaching him. He looked her over, barely registering that she was pointing at someone. 'Go?' Go where? Was she covering his advance? But where was he advancing too? He looked back towards the castle where an answer revealed itself.

A middle-aged man, with brown eyes, brown hair, and a perpetual look of disinterest, came through the main door. He was adorned with smalt blue armor, the same color that Marcus wore, that Brutus wore, that all of Shad's men here wore. He lacked a pauldron on his right shoulder and had a grey scarf around his neck. This man was Rollo, one of the senior knights who swore loyalty, not to Shad, but to his father Daren. He had been one of Daren's confidants and even tried to protect Shad's mother during the attack upon their keep. Like most of Daren's men, he traveled around Etruria until Shad returned to his homeland. He was one of the last people Shad expected to turn traitor.

"I know I said I'm not going to interfere with what you do, but stop the ruckus right now!" He yelled, before noticing a full-blown battle taking place in the courtyard. He took a step back at the site of the wyvern. "Shit." He looked around and saw Shad on his knees staring at him. They locked eyes and Rollo's eyes began to narrow. Shad's eye widened though. One of his father's men, someone who returned to their service when Shad returned, had betrayed him. He let the brigands take the castle. He must have told them about Maria and Lowell, potential hostages.

"I've got that one," Shad said to Paige as he got to his feet. He started charging Rollo before anyone could stop him. He was so blinded by rage, he left the schiavona pinning the dead brigand to the ground. "You bashtard!"

Rollo bit his lip, knowing he didn't have a weapon on him. "Let him pass. I'll take care of him." He retreated back into the castle waiting for Shad to get to him. A couple of brigands in Shad's path thought of stopping him, but moved aside. In Shad's current state, he couldn't do much against them anyway. Shad entered the doorway to find no one. He looked around then heard a slam behind him. Rollo had closed the door behind them, leaving the two of them in the main hall of the castle. "Welcome to Castle Burg, milord. Quite the reception, don't you think?"

Shad just stood there, not even acknowledging Rollo as he paced around him. He was busy taking in what saw. Tattered banners bearing his heraldry, a roaring fire in the center of the hall, a burgundy carpet lining the floor, presumably a left-over from the previous owners. His family cared little for decor you stand on, so they probably never bothered to change it. Empty bottles and food scraps littered the floor, probably due to the urgency of the the attack. He noticed one thing that was left untouched, a portrait on the wall near the staircase. If he was in the right state of mind, he'd remember posing for it, with his parents, as it was being painted. It was half a year before things went bad, when Daren became head of the family. Perhaps Rollo told them not to touch it. Perhaps so they could identify who was going to be paying the ransom.

"If you want to know whose fault this is, well. Fault lies with that precocious bitch of your little 'pack'. She wasn't here when Marcus arrived. She snuck out into town, like Hyperions are prone to do. Marcus raised hell and wanted to set an example. So those curs offered me up on a platter. He never liked me anyway, even though I was his superior back before you were an only child." He paused, stopping in his tracks. The contempt in Rollo's voice towards Marcus was palpable. Shad could just about hear the seething when his name was mentioned, even as the ringing in his ears continued. Light footsteps could be heard coming down the stairs and Shad recognized who it came from. A girl, younger than himself with white hair and some fresh wounds, as well a few old facial scars, clad in black clothes. This was one of Cass' people, one she sent to shadow Maria. Grey, Shad recalled. He wasn't sure if this was her real name or just a designation by Cass.

"This one was with her all the time anyway. Why scare the people with an armed guard? Well. I don't take betrayal well. And look what happened. I help those scoundrels mop up the curs, put the staff and your family in chains...and I got to cut Marcus in half. He thought he could trust me, that I had took his actions to heart and tried to apologize with my own actions. Led him straight to Maria's cell and cut him in half. Best. Moment. Of. My. Life." As Rollo monologued, Shad just stared forward, seemingly absorbed into it. Rollo stopped at looked back at the spy, Grey. She had cuffs around her legs and hands, but was forced to act like a maid to the brigands. He noticed she was carrying something. "What are you doing?"

Shad looked her way and she walked up to him. "Arm." Shad was bewildered by it. "Arm." Shad heard what he thought he heard and shook his head. She wanted him to raise his left arm, but he couldn't. She lifted it slightly and began putting it through something. She lifted something up to his shoulder and tapped the other one. "Arm." Shad put his arm back and she slipped it through something as well. She pull it up to his shoulder and fixed the collar. She then stood in front of him and tried to fix his hair a certain way. "Not enough hair. Will have to do." He was too out of it to notice, but she had just dressed him in one of Daren's spare coats. It was a bit tattered and was actually heavier what he was used too. It possessed a chain-mail inner-weave and was actually hard for him to wear it and stay standing with how he was doing.

"You're trying to make him look like his father? What, is his memory meant to guilt me to surrender? I've given up hope of his forgiveness when I struck down his intended son-in-law." Rollo laughed a bit as she approached him. She knelt down and presented something to Rollo. His weapon, a spear. "You're a weird one aren't you." As Rollo took the spear from her, he backhanded her in the face. What he didn't notice, was her grabbing the prison keys from his waist.

She got back to her feet and walked back towards Shad, stopping next to Shad where she was sure Rollo couldn't hear her. "Inner pocket on the left." She muttered as she walked out the door.

"Hey! Where are you going?!" he yelled. He grasped at his waist any noticed the cell keys were missing. He gritted his teeth in realization. She was going to free the captives, free Maria. "Don't you dare! If you let her out, I'll-"

"No."

Rollo stopped looking past Shad and back to him. "What did you say, pup?! You finally acknowledge me speaking to you and that's all you have to say?!" He took a fighting stance, ready for Shad's response. He knew Shad was reckless and impulsive. He didn't want to kill him, due in small part to loyalty to his father. But he wanted to make him suffer for choosing Marcus over any of the others. If it wasn't for Marcus, none of this would have happened. Besides, Lycia would probably pay a pretty penny for Shad and Maria. And Rollo could rationalize it as a safer option to the siblings than dying in battle to the Lycians. "What's wrong with you?! I killed that bastard Marcus. I've indirectly caused days of suffering to your sister. You were the one to break your left hand right? Where is that same reckless rage that caused that? The recklessness that drags in everyone around with you with little regard to your own safety? Why aren't you doing anything?!"

Shad just continued to stand there, his expression back to how it was when Rollo was speaking. He grabbed for the schiavona and found it missing. He reached just a bit more and found the sacaen sword that belonged to Leon. He drew it and just stood there, barely moving, unable to see out of his left eye, stuck shut with congealed blood. The ringing in his ears had been off and on since his head was bashed around. He started walking towards the staircase, not even looking at Rollo as he did so. Rollo kept in his stance, pivoting his stance to keep Shad in his view. Shad limped his way in front of the painting of him with his parents. He looked at his father in the painting. He stared at the painting, effectively disturbing Rollo in how detached from this situation he was acting. "What I wouldn't give to have a painting with the four of ush." He fell to a knee. "Mari's a pieshe of work, you two would have loved her. But unfortunately this bashtards shpilled shome paint on her. I'm going to make them pay for the d-damage and then I'm going to clean her up." He began laughing madly as he rose to his feet and looked back at Rollo. "I've got a terrific idea, Rollo. You're gonna love it."

Rollo was somewhat relieved Shad stopped talking to a painting, but was still cautious about what Shad meant by terrific idea. While it may have seemed to Shad to be a running gag between the members of his family, Shad's spur of the moment ideas never settled well with any of his men. "What are you talking about, pup? What idea are you-"

Paige was amazed that Shad got himself up after seemingly defeated. His energy knew no bounds. He claimed one of the enemies (one who strangely didn't look like the other bandits) and the two went off into the castle. Unfortunately, this left Paige with the rest of the brigands. The couple that let Shad pass turned their attention to the lone librarian. Paige walked backwards to keep facing them: she would be safe if she could get to Goldhardt.

She didn't see a third bandit coming for her from behind.

The giant of a man grabbed Paige by the collar. She let out a yelp upon being surprised and tried to slash at him with her broken rapier. In her struggle, her arm met the bandit's knife. Her hand dropped the weapon upon reflex. Paige scowled in pain as she grabbed her wounded arm. The cut was deep, the pain nauseating. The bandit's grasp moved to her hair, pulling Paige into his body. His knife went to her neck, the blade threatening to cut into her.

"I'm sick of this bull," the bandit grumbled to himself, "Feels like this battle's been going on for months."

Paige tried to get a look at her captor. The only discernible feature she could notice was his bald head. Her captor felt her struggle and tightened his grip. His leg went between hers to keep Paige locked in place. He turned to the battle before them.

The next thing Baldy said came in a roar for all to hear.

"My men! TO ME, RIGHT NOW!" he called out. To the group of self-proclaimed heroes, Baldy brandished Paige like a trophy to get their attention.

"To the rest, you will drop your weapons, call off your beasts, and SURRENDER! I don't need to tell you what will happen if you refuse."

Paige looked on with an apologetic stare to her comrades, her white sleeve slowly turning red.

Satsume barely had time to react to Cecily's brazen charge. Her song's magic faded away, the invigorating tune replaced by a rather impressive war cry. With what felt like the last of his strength, Satsume lunged away from his foe as Cecily sank the spearpoint into the man's gut. He grunted in discomfort as scrambled to his feet.

"Remind me... never to make you angry again, milady," he said. He gently reached over and helped her pull the weapon from the bloodied heap on the ground. "You can let go now..."

As he reached to pry Cecily's trembling hands off his cherished spear, another familiar sound of distress caught Satsume's ear. He turned to its source.

"Drop your weapons, call off your beasts, and surrender!" shouted a burly, bald-headed vagrant. Clutched in his grip was Paige, her face twisted in pain. She appeared to be trying to tend to an arm wound, but the brigand's hostile grab prevented her from doing so. Satsume instinctively reached over his shoulder, where his throwing spear quiver usually sat - but when his hand grabbed at air, he remembered. Sigh... of course.

Resigned to obeying the enemy's command, Satsume thumbed the button on his lance, collapsing it and throwing it to the ground in defeat. As his hands fell to his sides, he bumped up against a sword hilt.

He did a mental double-take. Paige's light brand! He must have forgotten to give it to her! Thinking back to the skirmish in the inn, Satsume got an idea. He glanced back at Cecily.

"Close your eyes!" he whispered, hopefully loud enough for her to hear.

Satsume extended his hands out in front of him, palms down. "All right! All right... just..." He exhaled, drawing up the plan one last time in his head. He locked eyes with Paige, who had a defeated, apologetic look on her face at having been captured.

"Paige?" asked Satsume.

"I'm still here," she said, trying to wriggle into a more comfortable stance. The brigand tightened his grip.

Satsume took a deep breath. His surroundings seemed to slow to a crawl... he could hear Leroy's wyvern utter a low growl at needing to be held from battle. The remains of the vagrants kept a keen eye on Satsume's hands...

NOW..!

With a swift motion, Satsume planted one hand on the light brand's scabbard, drawing the blade with his off-hand as quickly as he could. He held it up high over his head, trying to pinpoint Paige's exact location before the entire courtyard was bombed with a luminous spark of magic. Almost immediately, he could hear anguished cries and the sounds of weapons dropping to the ground as everyone in the area reached for their faces in an effort to shield from the brilliant glare of the light brand's spell. Satsume charged forward, plunging the blade's tip into the lead bandit's chest, just below the collarbone. As steel met flesh, a radiant pulse of white light seemed to emanate from the wound.

Shhhhhhiiiinngggggggg!!!

Surprised by the attack, the enemy released his hostage. Satsume was unprepared for Paige's impact against his body as she broke away, causing him to shout in pain from his existing injuries. As he did so, the light waned. Hurriedly, the two retreated back near Cecily.

Finally, the light died down. Satsume stood in front of Leroy, Paige, and Cecily, still holding the light brand. Blood streaked its grooves, and it looked now like any ordinary blade. Stunned at the success of his gambit, Satsume could only sheathe it, somewhat deliberately, before removing it from his belt and handing it back to Paige.

Once briefly silent, the courtyard was now a din of groaning and swearing vagrants. As it probably was before we got here, Satsume thought with a smirk.

The last thing the Paige saw was Satsume pulling out the light brand. It was the same trick she had done back at the inn (by trick, she meant complete accident). Unfortunately, she was on the receiving end of the light magic. Her vision went stark white. All she could hear were the cries of the bandits and the dropping of weapons. Her captor gripped her tighter; she could tell he was just as confused as to what was happening around them. The next thing Paige felt was a blade rushing past her neck and into Baldy. She didn't realize how fortunate she was: if the sword strayed but a little, it would have impaled her neck. Her captor's blood splattered across her face. As soon as he loosened his grip, Paige immediately ran forward to get away from him. Due to her blindness, she ran straight into Satsume.

“Ah!” Paige said in shock, fearing she ran into another bandit. She was somewhat relieved that it was just Satsume crying out in pain. Obviously not because he was in pain. Paige grabbed onto his arm as he guided her back to the rest of the group. As the light faded and her vision began to return, Paige was able to see the others were mostly OK and all of their foes were defeated. She took the light brand once Satsume gave it back.

“I really need to learn to use this thing,” Paige remarked as she put away the sword. As the adrenaline wore off, Paige was becoming more aware of her wounded arm. She gripped her arm and winced in pain. They were all a little worse for wear, but they weren’t quite finished.

“I don’t suppose someone already released the prisoners?” Paige then turned to Satsume, the most beat-up of all of them.

“Shad is still inside, but maybe you should head back to the village.” She looked at him as though he could fall to pieces at any moment.

It took several deep breaths before Cecily could loosen her grip on Satsume's weapon. Her imagination of killing a man was more personal than it actually felt, though perhaps the shaft of the spear kept the emotions at bay. Her imagined killing, by the tip of a dagger, placed faces much closer to each other. Theodore once told her that one always remembers the face of his first kill, but Cecily could barely see hers in the dim lighting. Satsume's words didn't quite register due to the rush of adrenaline but she could feel the excitement fade as her attention came to Paige's plight. Of course, Paige's death would have been tragic, but did this bandit truly believe that her life was that valuable?

Regardless, Cecily had no intention of fighting further. She looked around as both allies and foes took notice of the spectacle. The fighting slowed to a halt as more eyes lingered around the captive Paige. She heard Satsume plainly this time, biting her lip to stop herself from giving a hefty retort for ordering her around. Cecily did not dare look to see why Satsume told her to, in case it gave away whatever his intention was. As she heard the hiss of a sword being swept from its scabbard at Satsume's side, Cecily snapped her eyes shut. Even with eyes closed, she could sense the brilliance of the light brand's shine against the darkness.

As the scene settled, Cecily took another look around to examine the battlefield. It seemed like the vagrants have been incapacitated, though she could not tell for how long. She gave Satsume a look to indicate her intent, heading over to Leroy and his wyvern.

"I presume you are Leroy?" she called to him. "Where are the other riders of Bern?"

The wyvern snorted before its master could respond. Cecily flinched. She is never going to get used to them.

Shad directed his sword at Rollo, barely keeping steady as the knight readied himself to attack. Rollo noticed Shad's grip was pretty loose, as could be expected from someone as beat up as he was. Before Shad could even begin his approach, Rollo lunged and disarmed him, knocking the sacaen sword far away from Shad. "You were saying?"

Shad looked at his hand, feeling the sting in his hand at the impact.He blinked a couple of times. Then he just zoned out completely. Everything was fuzzy and that insistent ringing was back. Shad's eyelids became lead and he began struggling to keep them from closing. He began dozing off while standing.

"Pup? You there?" Rollo asked, geniunely concerned. He caught himself caring about him, but being able to look up and see Daren was more or less the cause of this change-of-heart. He didn't want to kill the boy, just make him see the error of his ways. And maybe make a profit selling him to Lycia, but he needed him alive either way. He swung down hard on the ground, hoping the sudden noise would snap Shad out of it.

Shad instantly snapped out of it and reached into the coat and took out what Grey had told him about. A magic tome, with a lightning bolt etched into it. It must belong to Wolfram or Maria. He opened the book, but let go of it. It began to hover in front of him, held there by magic. Shad opened it to a random page, read the chant under his breath and held his hand out towards Rollo.

A magic circle formed under Shad and he began feeling a charge in the air. Rollo realized he was in danger and began to run away. Bolts of electricity came out of the ground, as well as forming around the cover of the book. The bolts then concentrated over Shad's head and arced right towards the suit of armor with Rollo in it. Rollo tumbled to the ground, his armor black and charred from the heat of the concentrated lightning. His body was twitching, but not under his own power.

As for Shad, the tome fell to the ground at the end of the spell and Shad fell after that. Before he hit the ground, he heard the cracking sound of thunder. He began crawling towards the entrance, hoping for help.

While the others were off having much more serious and character building adventures fighting the bandits, the stack of Lita and Goldhardt continued to take on Bandits for the fun of it. Well, at least Lita seemed to be having fun. Her skill as a dancer would be hard to debate at this point as she managed to expertly balance herself on the moving suit of armor beneath her feet, a feat on par with the fact that Goldhardt was taking on many opponents while carrying someone like that.

Lita's taunting laughter prompted some of the Bandits to attempt to attack her, despite the more immediate threat of of the ace-weilding suit of armor. After dodging a few swings she stepped off of Goldhardt, moving from the back of one of the axe's to the bandits head and finally on the ground behind him. "The others seem to be having such a hard time of it. I should probably help, as much fun as I've been having..."

It took a moment for the Bandit to realize what was happening and turn around but by the time he had turned to face Lita she had moved past him, a sword in hand from who knows where and a deep slash across his chest. The wound catching up to him he fell over as she joined with Goldhardt in earnest. "Ohohohohohohohoho~!"

The battle went on for a bit longer before things came to a stop, one of her newfound allies having been captured. While the dancer(?) stood and watched, trying to determine how to get out of this situation when it ended up getting solved without her help. No matter, It wasn't as if she was that invested in playing the hero. After that the combat seemed to end.

Sending her sword off to whatever pocket dimension she had pulled it from she approached the others with Goldhardt. "What is the situation now?"

Almost on queue, when Lita asked about the situation, a small mass of people began walking out from the same door they witnessed Shad stumble out of earlier in the fight. They cautiously took in the surroundings, unsure of if it was safe, or if their saviors had ulterior motives akin to their captors. Behind them came out a young girl, covered in scrapes, blood, and a tattered nightgown, a young boy with a mop of curly black hair wearing a brown jacket under some rather unimpressive armor that was too big for him, and a slightly older girl in a black cloak with white hair and a few facial scars. She swung the key ring around her finger as the trio approached the group. If they looked at the youngest girl, they would notice she was carrying Shad's magic tome.

"I-I am Lady Maria Hyperion, daughter of Lord Daren Hyperion and former ward of Lord Tyber Fen of the now annexed country of Etruria. I give you thanks for...liberating my castle from those brigands." Maria said looking down at some of the corpses around her, noticing her bare feet was stepping on fresh blood. She looked at the group and noticed a peculiar amount of red heads. Despite her ragged appearance, she stifled a laugh. "I thank you for escorting my idiot brother here. If you weren't with him, we'd probably both be stuck in a cell waiting to be sold off."

Maria began walking towards the front door of the castle, beckoning the group to follow her. "To apologize for your ordeals, feel free to help yourself to the castle. Clean up, eat up, drink. It's the only way for me to make amends for putting the castle in this situation." She walked through the door and stared wide eyed seeing two bodies on the ground. Both were moving, but only one seemed to move with some life. "SHAD!" She yelled running over to him.

"Mar-?"

Maria lifted his left arm up and slipped under, trying to help him up. He got up to his knees and looked at Rollo. Maria looked at the other body and recognized it. She got out from under Shad and approached the knight, kicking him repeatedly until he seemingly came through. She saw him looked her straight in the eyes and she took out the fire time. The eyes widened as a magic circle appeared right in his face. The resulting fire ball roasted his head until he finally died, giving Shad flashes of Lennox in Tania. When she was sure he was dead, she ran back, tripping just before she got to Shad. Shad just looked at her and she looked back, tears welling in her eyes. She scrapped her knees on the landing and the new sensation just caused her facade to crack. She got up and jumped into Shads arms, bawling her eyes out into his left shoulder, forcing the side of her head into the sticky blood on Shad's face. Instead of saying something, he lowered his head into her shoulder and just let her cry. "They...they..."

"There, there..." Shad said, trying to console her, stroking the back of her head with his right hand. This was finally over.

Much as the invitation into the castle was appreciated, Paige wanted nothing more than to get out as soon as possible. Though the bandits were dispatched, they were still there. Once the rest of the wyvern knights showed up, however, the castle was much more secure. Though the librarian wasn't comfortable on the recent battlefield, inside was likely much more palatable.

"Thank you for the offer," Paige told Maria. "I think we may stay for a few days to regroup. I'm certain we can't go back to Lycia at the moment..."

The razing of Tania was still fresh in her mind. Things were likely to get worse. If they were to go back, they would need a plan. Then again, perhaps it would be wiser to stay in Bern a while longer...

It was as though the wyvern's snort was a signal for the others to arrive, saving Leroy from the need to explain. One of them landed next to Leroy, giving a quick salute to the Bernese commander. From his garb, Cecily quickly deduced that he was one of the unit officers.

"We've secured the surroundings, sir," the officer reported. "The rest are all accounted for, including the town mayor."

"Complicit, I presume?" Cecily asked to nudge herself back into the conversation.

"Ye- err," the officer stopped himself from responding, flustered from breaching protocol.

Cecily knew from her time in Laus, it was customary for the men to avoid divulging information regarding ongoing investigations to anyone other than their lords and unit commanders. She knew that this would be true for other countries, as it was common sense. Cecily's tact had caught him off-guard and earned their attention.

"Are you..." Leroy began, squinting in the dark to make out Cecily's face.

"If you speak of the one who was the center of the disturbance at the refugee camp in Bern," Cecily replied, "then it is I, Cecilia of Laus."

"Milady, we have been on alert since your disappearance in the aftermath of that incident," Leroy bowed his head in acknowledgement. "I apologize for shifting the subject, but there's someone important to me who has been caught up in this situation. Do you happen to know where he might be?"

"He?" Cecily blinked. Her face cracked a little, but her composure remained unshaken thanks to her diplomatic experience.

"His name is Anthony," Leroy explained.

"I do not know of whom you speak. He may be with the other victims

"I see. In any case, my men can take you to safety while we finish up here," Leroy said.

"If I am to go, then the same invitation must be extended to my companions," Cecily replied.

"We can work out accommodations," Leroy answered. She could sense slight frustration in his tone, but he clearly kept it in check. She can respect a man who stayed professional.

"Very good," Cecily said, offering him a smile.

It seems they will be spending the night in greater comfort after all.